380th Anniversary of completion of Fort St. George(stage I)

The following  special cover was issued five years ago, on the occasion of completion of 375 years of Fort St. George on 23rd April, 2015 at a function held at St. George Fort.   The special postal cover was conceived and designed by MR. D.H. Rao, one of the founding members of the  Madras Heritage Lovers' Forum.

The small picture on the front cover (above) is  the view of the Fort's Stage 1 building.

Below is the brief description of the Fort printed at the back side of the Special Cover.

Ahobila Mutt - Special Cover

On 22nd June, 2015 on the Occasion of 60th Birth Anniversary (Shastiapdhapoorthi) of the current Pontiff HH Sri Ranganatha Yatheendra Mhadesikan, India Post has issued a special cover.  You can see the Pontiff on the MY STAMP.   He took charge as the 46th "Azhagiyasingar of Ahobila Mutt" on 23rd May 2013 at Sri Rangam.

Below information is printed on the backside of the cover.

Mahamaham, Kumbakonam - Special Cover

Kumbakonam  is situated between two rivers Kavery and Arasalar in the southern part of Tamil Nadu, is famous for its ancient temples and for the Mahamaham Festival.  It was once a capital city of Chozha Empire.

Hindus believe that taking dip at Holy rivers such as Ganga, Yamuna, Mahanathi etc would wash their sins. This was based on one of the mythological incident where once the holy rivers of India went to Brahma, the God of Creation and asked him, "How they can wash their sins while others (the earthly) leave their sins by taking dip in them?". Brahma told the holy rivers to meet near the Kumbakonam tank on the full moon day of Masi month (Tamil Month) to get rid of their (holy river's) sins. This event is referred to as "Mahamaham" and happens once in 11 or 12 years. 

Masi month starts by mid February and retreats by mid March.  Since Hindus believe that all holy rivers meet in Kumbakonam and the idols of all the main deities of Kumbakonam are given a dip at the tank. 

Thus all Hindus like to visit this auspicious  place during the Mahamaham Kumba mela to take a dip. Last time it happened was  in 2004. This year(2016) it happened between February 13 to 22nd. 

To commemorate this occasion India Post released a special cover. I am lucky enough  to get the below cover for my collection.  The cancellation depicts the star Leo and the orbit of the constellation.  Hindus worship all rivers as Goddesses,  so the Women Empowerment stamps fits nicely for expressing the occasion on cover.

Madras Day (2015) - Special Cover

The 376th  Founding of Madras was celebrated on 22nd August, 2015 by Madras Heritage Lovers' Forum. The forum was founded by Mr.  D H Rao and Mr. S B Rajaseetharaman. A special Cover was released on this occasion by Mr. Mervin Alexander, Post Master General, Chennai City Region. The cover depicts a Gold Pagoda in line with the "Presidency Coins" (2015 Fourum theme).  The function was held at Fort Museum, Fort St. George.  The function was organized by Mr. D H Rao and he himself designed the cover.

Below is the insert found in the cover.

Special Covers - Few aero/space philately related

Recently I started collecting Special Covers mainly on my theme "Flights of Fancy".  Here are some of those...

Below cover was released in 16th of January at Bengaluru during Karnapex 2015.  

Special cover issued for the occasion of Total Solar Eclipse on 16th February 1980.  (You can see the effect of Solar Eclipse: Dull paper color and the inverted stamp :-) )